Far from home
by Piratefreako
Summary: Through unforeseen circumstances, Soraya Johnson finds herself in a rowing boat with a dog and two witless pirates. Together, they search for a ship with black sails and a certain captain named Jack Sparrow. Set during DMC.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue  
**_  
The house looked just as Soraya remembered it, and when she walked up the doorsteps she felt like  
she was the only thing that had really changed.

Then again, the house hadn't spent a year on an island infested with smugglers, prostitutes and pirates. She didn't look like a proper lady anymore. Her skin was sunburnt, her hair was straggly and she reeked of dirt and sweat. On top of that she was dressed in men's clothes, and they were dirty, threadbare and foul-smelling.

Soraya recalled the night she had left in the first place. She had fled out in the dark of night, her heart pounding hard in her chest, and her skirts fluttering around her ankles. Now her heart was pounding the very same way, but the reason was not excitement.

The reason was fear.

She had kind of imagined her homecoming as more glamorous. That her whole family for some reason would be standing in the garden, waiting for her with welcoming smiles on their lips. But no one had even noticed her sneaking in through the gates. What if the house had been abandoned since she left? What if another family had moved there and she would barge in on their tea time, claiming to be their long lost daughter.

There was only one way to find out.

She raised a shaking fist and knocked on the door.

As soon as she did, she abruptly changed her mind and considered running away. But it was too late, the door was opened by the girl who used to be her maid; Cecilia.

And when Cecilia saw her, she screamed.

"No, Cecilia, don't scream, I beg of you!"

Cecilia had stopped screaming by then, but she was staring at Soraya like she was some rare animal.

"Miss Johnson?" she gasped, when she finally regained her cool. "I beg your pardon, but what in god's name are you doing here?"

Soraya opened her mouth to answer, but that very moment another person entered the entrance hall. It was a woman in her forties; her brown hair fashioned into a complicated hairdo, and her dress made of the finest silk. Her brown eyes fell on Soraya.

"What is the meaning of this?" Maria Johnson said, turning to Cecilia. "Who let this beggar in here?"

Cecilia cleared her throat. "I beg your pardon, Mrs Johnson, but this is your daughter."

Soraya's mother looked back at Soraya and she let out a little gasp of surprise. For a second she looked like she wanted to slam the door in Soraya's face, but instead she looked at Cecilia again.

"Well, don't just stand there, you silly girl! Let her in!"

Cecilia nodded and stepped aside so Soraya could finally enter the house. The interior also looked much as she remembered it. Except that the vase that usually stood in the corner near the stairs seemed to have vanished. Her eyes kept darting around the room, and she was almost lost in nostalgia, until a voice brought her back to the present.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Soraya's eyes finally met her mother's. She had kind of expected her to have a smile on her face, maybe even tears in her eyes. Instead, her face looked as though it had been carved out of stone. Soraya looked down, awkwardly shuffling her feet.

"I want to come home."

Her mother let out a hollow laugh. "Is that so?"

Soraya heard the heels of her mother's shoes clacking against the floor as she walked closer.

"So you just expect that after you selfishly ran away to marry that thief, scandalized our whole family and disappeared for a year, leaving us to think you were dead, you could simply come home and we would just welcome you with open arms?"

Soraya could feel tears burning under her eyelids.

"Look at me, Soraya", her mother said. Soraya forced away the tears, and looked up again.

How could her mother remain so calm and collected? Why weren't there any tears in her eyes? Why didn't she seem remotely happy to see her daughter again?

When Soraya met her mother's gaze she knew the answer. She knew that what Maria felt towards her daughter was total indifference. In fact, Soraya wasn't her daughter anymore; she was just a stranger that happened to share her daughter's memories of a childhood that had now dissolved into nothing.

"Do you understand why you're not welcome here?"

Soraya remained quiet.

"What you did was selfish", her mother continued. "But you're a grown woman now, you can make your own choices", she paused for a second. "And you can take the consequences."  
Soraya couldn't stop the tears from welling up this time.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her voice was shaky. Her mother turned her back at her.

"You can show yourself out."

And just like that, Soraya's heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Was this really happening? Was she rejected by her own family?

Thoughts were swirling around in her head. Where was she supposed to go? Where could she get money? Would she die out of thirst and hunger in the gutter?

"You can't do this!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with a rage that suddenly had whelmed up inside her. Her mother turned to her again.

"I can, and I will", she answered, as calm as ever. "Now go, before I have to get you thrown out."

With those words, she left the room, leaving Soraya heartbroken and alone in the entrance hall that suddenly didn't feel very welcoming.

She glanced around the room one last time, trying to memorize it. After all, this would probably be the last time she saw it. She felt like her heart shattered once again when she saw that among the family portraits that hung over the stairs, her own face was nowhere to be seen. It was as if she had never existed. 


	2. I

_**I.**_  
Soraya cursed the day she had first laid her eyes on Jonathan. He hadn't even been that handsome, now when she thought of it. He had been a bit plump, and his nose had resembled a potato. But there had been something about that crooked smile of his. And his eyes had been blue, friendly and almost sparkling.

They had met at a ball, but it wasn't until they had talked for a while that she had understood that he wasn't supposed to be there. Later he told her that he had snuck in just for fun; to meet some 'fancy ladies', as he put it. That was also when he had told her that the first time he'd laid eyes on her he'd fallen in love instantly.

Soraya knew now that he probably made that last part up, but she did believe that he had loved her at some point. He had eloped with her after all, despite that it would mean losing all her riches and leaving the high class life behind.

Jonathan had grown up in a life of dirt and hunger, so she supposed that never really was the problem. He had left her for other reasons. Those last months in Tortuga hadn't been particularly great.

He had promised them that they would get off the pirate-island as soon as they could, but that proved to be harder than they first thought. Hardly anyone wanted to take Soraya aboard, since she was a woman, and all of the sailors ridiculously superstitious. Soraya's and Jonathan's dreams about marrying in England slowly fell apart as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. After a while they started fighting. Jonathan went out drinking, but Soraya didn't want to succumb to 'such vile things'. So she stayed at home, and complained a lot. An awful lot, actually.

And then one day she had awoken, and found that Jonathan wasn't lying beside her. As she had looked around the small room that had been their home for almost a year, she realized that all his belongings were gone, and so was he.

It had taken her a long time to get off the island. Dressing up as a man had been a plan she had come up with early, but it was hard to get hands on people's clothes when she hardly dared to step outside the door. In the end, she had done things she wasn't proud of, and she had managed to get everything she needed. Then it had taken her months to collect the courage, and ignore the fear of what would happen if she got caught. Eventually she had succeeded, and finally she could return to her home town; Port Royal.  
And now it had all been for nothing.

She didn't start crying until she had gone through the whole town and reached the port. For some reason she had thought the sea would have calmed her, it always had when she was younger. When they had travelled over to Caribbean from England, she had loved every second of it. Although it had been a bit dirty and smelly, the gentle rocking of the boat as she fell asleep and the incredible view when the sun had gone up during chilly mornings had been worth it. Soraya didn't really know much about ships, but the sea had always fascinated her.

But this time it didn't console her. If anything; it reminded her more of the home she had now lost. She wondered where her father had been. Probably off on some business trip to Boston or Bridgetown. Maybe she could sneak aboard another ship and try to find him? Maybe he would let her come home?

Then again, the decision to not shut her out from the family had probably not been made on a whim. This must have been something they had discussed.

When had they started talking about not letting her come back? Had they decided to shut her out the moment the neighbors' started whispering or had they waited for her to come back? Had they fought over the decision? What had her siblings said when they found out that they no longer had a little sister?

These were questions which answers she would never find out. Her old life was gone, shattered on the marble floor in the house where she used to live.

Soraya sat down under one of the docks, to hide away from the rest of the world. The sand of the beach was getting cooler, since the sun had begun setting in the horizon. She put her arms around her knees and buried her face between them. Now the tears wouldn't seem to stop.

The dock was emptier than it had been the same morning; now when the night was approaching the people in the harbor had worked their way up to the many taverns further into town. She was on her own, and she was glad. Openly crying wasn't exactly her favorite thing.

After a while the sobs became less frequent, and the tears finally dried up. The sky had turned dark now, and the last trace of the sun had disappeared behind the horizon. Soraya realized how tired she actually was. It had been such a long day, and there was no one around. The sand wasn't particularly comfortable, but where else would she go?

As she lay down and closed her eyes, she hoped that she would wake up in her own bed, finding that the last two years had been a cruel nightmare.

Instead she woke up by something wet being dragged across her face again and again. In confusion she opened her eyes, and saw something grey and hairy. Quicker than she thought was possible she sat up and backed away from the thing, managing to strangle a scream by clapping one of her hands over her mouth. The thing sat down, cocking its head.

It was a dog.

Soraya gave out a sigh of relief, and then she stretched out a hand for the dog to smell. It seemed friendly enough, but she noticed that its fur was very shaggy and dirty. Probably a street dog, she thought, as she scratched it behind its ear.

"Where did that bloody mongrel go?"

Soraya was startled by the voice. It didn't sound too close, but who did it belong to?

She looked around, and saw two figures approaching from the beach. One of them was quite short and plump, and the other one was a head taller and almost sickly skinny. Soraya would have found the contrast amusing, if it hadn't been for the fear of being discovered. She had to remind herself that she was disguised as a man, and they probably wouldn't hurt her. But then again, Port Royal did attract a lot of shady people, like pirates and smugglers.

The dog turned its head towards the two men, then stood up and ran towards them, barking happily.

The two men both tried to shush it, but the dog didn't seem to understand that they wanted it to be quiet; instead it let out another bark. The short man whacked the skinny man on the arm and hissed (just loud enough for Soraya to hear): "Give it the keys!"

The skinny man reached into one of his pockets and took out a ring of keys. He then threw the ring into the sand, and the dog quickly picked them up.

"Do ye think anyone heard that?" the short man said, glancing over his shoulder.

The skinny man looked around too, and Soraya crawled further into the shadows to make sure he didn't notice her.

"Better hurry up, just in case", he said, turning to the short one. They both walked up to a rowing boat that lied upside-down in the sand. Soraya watched as they turned it the right-side up and started pushing it towards the water. They kept talking, something about searching for a ship and a man named Jack Sparrow. Soraya recognized the name; he was kind of a legend in Tortuga.

The dog trotted around them at first, but then got bored and started heading for Soraya's direction. Soraya tried to shoo it away by waving her arms violently, but once again it didn't understand. Instead it dropped the keys in the sand and tried to lick her in the face again.

"Oi, Pint!"

Soraya froze as she saw how the skinny man had turned his head towards her and the dog.

"I think Poochie found something!", he continued.

"Ye named the dog Poochie?" the short man (apparently called Pint) said, sounding very skeptical.

"It seemed fitting", the skinny man shrugged. Then he pointed towards Soraya. "But look, there's something there!"

"It's probably nothing, we 'aven't got all night, come on now!" Pint said, but the skinny man ignored him; instead he started walking towards her, and Soraya didn't know where she was going to hide anymore. She could just try to run, or maybe she could just sit perfectly still and quiet and maybe he wouldn't notice…

"Who are you?"

Too late.

He was standing right in front of her now, bending down to be able to look under the dock. She couldn't quite distinguish his features in the darkness, but he seemed to look a bit puzzled, and not at all like he was in the mood for killing.

"Uh, I was just sleeping here…" Soraya awkwardly said. The skinny man stepped aside, so she could crawl out of her hiding place. As she stood up, Pint had made his way to them.

"I was just going", she awkwardly said, pointing a thumb over her own shoulder. "It's a nice dog you've got there", she added, nodding towards Poochie.

Then when she tried to walk past them, she heard a clicking noise, and when she turned her head, she saw that the short one was pointing a gun at her.

"How much did you hear?" he asked. _He_ looked like he was in the mood for killing.  
Soraya felt her heart racing. "Uh, I… I didn't hear anything! I swear!"

She had never been a particularly good liar, but at least she remembered to lower her voice to not give away her gender.

"Do ye think I'm stupid?" the man named Pint moved closer, and put the gun right under her chin. The cold steel against her skin made her shiver.

"Well I did hear something about a ship and that you were looking for Jack Sparrow…"

As soon as she said the name out loud she recalled how she had heard someone talking about him just the other day. There had been a young man sitting in a tavern with a fisherman, they had been talking about a ship stranded on some island, and the man had mentioned the name. _Jack Sparrow_.  
For once in her life, Soraya thought quickly.

"I… I know where he is!"

She felt the cold being removed from her skin as Pint pulled back the gun.

"You do?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! I overheard someone, a young man, talking about him!"

"And what exactly did they say?"

Soraya tried not to look away, but it took a lot of effort since Pint had very bad breath.

"Something about a ship being stranded", she tried to recall the conversation. She had been eavesdropping, but it was hard to remember the details. "I think it was something about black sails, and they mentioned the name: Jack Sparrow".

Pint exchanged a look with his skinny companion. "Would ye be able to point the island out on a chart?" he then asked, turning back to her.

Soraya could remember that she had found the island's name kind of funny, but she wasn't sure that she would remember it even if she saw it. At the same time she didn't want to get familiar with the gun pipe again, so she blurted: "Yes! Yes I would!"

This time Pint put away the gun.

"Well then", he said. "I guess you're comin' wit' us!"

"I am?"

"You'll lead us to the ship", he pointed at himself and his skinny friend. "And if it turns out you were mistaken we'll kill ye."

The skinny man cleared his throat, and Pint glared at him. Soraya suddenly noticed that the skinny man was clutching a bible.

"All right, _I'll_ kill you!" Pint corrected himself. "Now give us a hand with the boat!" 


	3. II

_**II.**_  
And so Soraya found herself sitting in a small rowing boat, accompanied by two strange men and a scruffy dog. Before they had left the port, Pint had showed her a chart and told her that if she didn't find the island he would make sure no one would find her body. Luckily, Soraya had spotted the island with the funny name and pointed it out to him.

_ Isla de Pelegostos_.

Maybe it was on plain survival instinct that she had managed to summon the name from her subconscious. Or maybe God had enlightened her because he needed her for some greater purpose later in her life. Or maybe she had just found the name funny enough to remember it.

However, she had survived, and now she was leaving Port Royal, sooner than she had expected. Despite having been held at gunpoint by her travelling companions, and despite that they didn't have anything better than a rowing boat to carry them over the waves towards the rising sun, she couldn't help but feeling a bit relieved for having left Port Royal behind. There was nothing left for her there, and staying there would only have reminded her of the life she had now lost.

But the relieved feeling was mixed with fright and uncertainty. If the ship was in fact on Isla de Pelegostos, what would they do with her when they reached it? Would they leave her to die on the island instead of killing her themselves?

She tried to tell herself that maybe there would be some kind of civilization on the island, and that she could start a new life there. She didn't think there would be any English colonies on the island, but perhaps Spanish ones. It was true that they didn't like Englishmen, but she did have a bit of Spanish heritage from her mother's side.

The more she thought about it, the less likely it sounded. Sighing, she turned her head from the sea and looked at her two 'companions'. Pint was rowing, so his back was turned to her, and the skinny man was sitting in the rear, skimming through the bible. In the light of the rising sun, they looked even more dodgy and untrustworthy than before.

"You're pirates, aren't you?" she said, her curiosity pushing away the fear for a moment. Pint turned to glare at her and she cast down her eyes, avoiding his sickly yellow gaze.

"Ye figured that out just now?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"And Jack Sparrow… Is he your captain?"

She half-expected him to pull out his gun and shoot her, just to shut her up, but he just answered:

"That's a long story, lad."

Even if there was more she wanted to ask him, she didn't dare to. Although he didn't sound annoyed at the moment, she had no idea what would set him off. So she kept silent, looking out over the waves again. Then Pint spoke again.

"So, what's yer name, lad?"

At first she didn't know what to say, confused by the fact that he actually tried to engage in a conversation.

"Uh… I'm…" The first name that came to her mind was her brother's. "I'm Simon Johnson."

"I'm Pintel", Pint said (so Pint was apparently just a nickname). "And the dim-witted blighter over there's me nephew Ragetti."

The skinny man looked up at the sound of his name. "Oi! I ain't dim-witted!" he said, sounding offended. He then returned to his bible, still looking a bit sulky. Pintel rolled his eyes, turning to Soraya.

"He is", he said to Soraya. "Ye see that book?"

Soraya nodded.

"Well, he can't read", he chuckled, once again turning her back to her to continue rowing.  
Soraya saw how Ragetti gave him an angry glance.

-

The sun had climbed even further up in the clear blue sky, and despite the ocean breeze, Soraya felt hot and sweaty. She would've given anything for a bottle of water, but the two pirates hadn't brought anything along. Neither of them had spoken to her again after the short introduction, and luckily there had been no more guns either. Soraya still had a lot of questions. Despite the fact that Pintel had sounded friendly enough when they last spoke, she didn't dare to ask him anything else. Instead she had turned her attention towards the dog that had lain quietly at her feet since the journey begun. She had no idea why they had brought it along in the first place, but she felt a bit safer with it there. If the two pirates actually would attack her, she figured that maybe the dog would save her.

Reaching down, she scratched it behind its ear.

"Good doggy", she whispered. "You'll save me from the pirates, won't you?"

"I can hear ye, lad!" she heard Pintel say.

Quickly, she straightened up. "I'm sorry."

He looked amused. "Ye really think we'd attack you out on the open ocean like this?"

She looked around; there was no sight of land anywhere. "No, perhaps not."

"I said I'd kill ye if you were wrong about the ship", he said. "Until then; why worry?"

He sounded friendly, but the whole part about killing her made didn't make Soraya feel any better.

"And if the ship is there?" she dared to ask.

Pintel shrugged. "Dunno, mate. Maybe we'll need some help with it?"

-

When they finally spotted land, the sun had almost reached its peak. Soraya tried to see if there was any ship nearby, but it was hard to see anything at this distance. Closing her eyes, she sent away a quick prayer begging for the ship to be there. She was too young to die.

"I say…" a voice piped up. "It was some divine providence that helped us 'scape from jail."  
Soraya turned around, and noticed that Ragetti had finally looked up from his bible, and was now looking at Pintel.

"And I say; it was me being clever!" Pintel answered, looking over his shoulder. "Ain't that right, Poochie?"

The dog turned its head towards him, the keys rattling in its mouth. Now Soraya had the whole picture. The keys had unlocked the prison cell they'd escaped from. Her two travel companions had escaped from Port Royal's prison. They were on the run, just like her.

"How'd ye know it wasn't some divine providence that_ inspired_ you to be clever?", Ragetti turned back to the bible again. "Anyway; I ain't stealing no ship!"

"It ain't stealing, it's salvaging!", Pintel explained. "And since when do you care?"

"Since we're not immortal no more, we've gots to take care of our immortal souls!"

Demonstratively, the skinny pirate pointed at the pages of the holy book. Soraya pondered about the meaning of his words. She had a hard time imagining that these two would be immortal. And that was impossible anyway, so it was probably some strange metaphor that she didn't understand.  
Pintel shook his head. "You know ye can't read!"

Once again, Ragetti seemed offended. "It's the bible, you get credit for trying!" he said, with a new sharpness in his voice.

"_Pretending_ to read the Bible is a lie, and that's a mark against…!" Pintel had raised his voice now, and he pointed up towards the sky, as if the Lord himself would suddenly pop up behind the clouds and condemn them all to hell with a snap of his divine fingers. Ragetti slammed the Bible shut, and looked as if he was ready to punch Pintel in the face. Pintel didn't seem to notice; instead he twisted his head to get a better look at the island.

"Look, there she is!" he said, and both Ragetti and Soraya turned to where he was looking. To Soraya's great relief, there was a black ship tied up on the beach.

Then she heard a splash, and her face was sprinkled with water. She swung around, expecting to see one of the pirates coming up to the surface. Instead she saw that the dog was paddling its way towards the shore. Both Pintel and Ragetti looked just as puzzled as she did.

"What's gone into him?" Ragetti asked.

Pintel shrugged. "Must've seen a catfish!"

Soraya gazed back at the ship, hearing the two pirates start giggling at the joke. Who were these two really? At first she had thought they were two rogues who would kill everything in their path. Now she was beginning to think that they were just two idiots who happened to be pirates. She folded her arms over the edge of the boat, and rested her chin on them. The shore came closer and closer every second, and she saw that the dog was now on the beach, shaking the water off its fur.

"Stupid mongrel!" she heard Ragetti shout, even though the dog had made it and they were still in a boat. Once again, she turned her head back towards the two pirates, and just in time to realize why the dog had left the boat in the first place. Pintel and Ragetti had noticed it too, and Ragetti let out an "Oh my goodness!" before the wave crashed over the boat and dragged them down under the surface.

-

The salt water stung in Soraya's eyes, and she couldn't see anything apart from sand and bubbles. She didn't know what was up or down, and she thought she would surely drown. But just as the panic had taken her in its grip, she felt the water wash off her, and sand scraping against her hands and face. Coughing, she crawled further up to get away from the water, and then rolled onto her back to breath in the fresh air. As she opened her eyes, she could see the clear blue sky, and a bird soaring high above. She felt a sudden urge to laugh. It was hard to believe that it had only been a day since she had walked out of her old house, never to return. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Memories from childhood suddenly came rushing back. How she and her siblings had played in the garden during hot days, the smell of freshly baked bread in the mornings, her mother's laugh when Soraya's father had told a joke during dinner…

A lump was taking form in her throat, so she swallowed hard and pushed the memories away. They didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that she was alive.

She heard Poochie barking, and she turned her head, looking at the ship. Pintel had started to untie the lines that locked it in the sand, and Ragetti was crawling up one of them to get onto the deck.

Soraya stood up to finally get a good look at the actual ship. It certainly wasn't the biggest ship she'd seen, but there was still a feeling of grandeur to it. It had a certain elegance, although one could tell that it had been worn by wind and water over the years. She was suddenly hit by the realization that this ship was to be her new home. Well, at least for some time.

She didn't actually plan to engage fully in piracy, maybe she would just jump ship at the nearest civilized island, and start a new life there. After all, she didn't want to end up like the scoundrels on Tortuga, or worse; in the gallows.

Despite that, she felt a slight tingle in the pit of her stomach. She had escaped Port Royal with the help of two pirates, a dog and a rowing boat. Now she was standing on some beach on a, seemingly, deserted island, trying to steal a ship. If her family could see her now…

"Oi! Lad!"

Pintel's scream cut right through her thoughts, and she turned her head to look at him.

"Go help Ragetti!" he commanded.

"But I don't know anything about ships", she said.

Pintel frowned, but quickly responded: "It's never too late to learn! Off ye go!"

He nodded towards the rope that Ragetti had used to climb up the ship.

"Do you expect me to…?" Soraya pointed at the rope, looking at Pintel in disbelief.

Pintel only nodded, and Soraya thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch, as if he was fighting a grin. Soraya figured she should just give it a go, and hope for the best. She grabbed the rope, slung one leg over it, and then the other. Awkwardly she started climbing her way up the rope, sliding down a couple of times before finally getting a hang of it. It was a slow climb, but at last she managed to reach the gunwale.

But how was she supposed to get over it?

Her wrists and hands were starting to hurt really badly. If she didn't get off the rope soon she would surely fall, and from this height the wet sand wouldn't make for a soft landing.

"Need a hand?"

Ragetti was now leaning against the gunwale, with a smug grin on his face.

"That would be nice, yes", Soraya answered, trying not to sound too exhausted.

The skinny pirate reached for her hand, and she reluctantly let go of the rope to take it. Soon she was lying sprawled on the deck, panting heavily. She had never been much of an athlete.

"Will ye give me a hand wit' the sails?"

Soraya sat up, and saw that Ragetti was on his way to climb up the ratlines. She stared at him. More climbing?

"How do you expect me to climb up there, if I could hardy climb up that rope?" she asked, as she stood up. The pirate bit his lip thoughtfully.

"Ye can stay 'ere and give Pint a hand with the lines, alright?"

"What am I…?"

"Jus' do as 'e tells ye!" he shouted down at her, already halfway up the mast.

Soraya raked a hand through her straggly hair, sighing loudly. She was just about to simply sit down on the gunwale, waiting for the two pirates to finish the job, when she heard Pintel shout something. She turned her head and looked down at him.

"What?!" she shouted. Pintel held up the line he was holding and then signaled for her to haul it up onto the ship. Didn't seem too hard.


	4. III

_**III.**_

Ragetti had almost finished with all the sails, and Soraya had nothing much to do except hauling lines, so she had decided to sit down for a bit and let the experts do the working. That was when she heard a screech.

She quickly looked up, half-expecting to see Ragetti fall down from the yard. Instead something else dropped down on the deck. His wooden eye. Puzzled, she stood and took a few steps to pick it up. But before she had the chance to, she got violently pushed aside by Ragetti, who came bolting out of nowhere and dove to get a hold of the eye. But something else came before him, something small and hairy.

A monkey. And not just any monkey; a monkey wearing a tiny shirt and a tiny vest.

The animal picked up the eye and then leapt up onto the gunwale, leaving the skinny pirate defeated on the deck.

"Ye little thief!" he said, almost sounding like he was about to start crying. The monkey ignored him and instead started biting the eye with much enthusiasm.

"No! Don't bite it!" Ragetti's voice was filled with anguish, and Soraya would've felt sorry for him if it wasn't for how confused she felt. The monkey disappeared up in the mast, as both Soraya and Ragetti heard Pintel's impatient voice shouting from the beach.

"_Haul the mooring line_!"

Ragetti quickly got to his feet and ran to answer his companion, but Soraya stayed where she was, squinting up at the mast trying to see where the monkey was.

"He's got me eye!" she heard Ragetti say, sounding as miserable as ever. "He won't give it back!"

"Well how did ye get it back last time?" Pintel roared.

Before Soraya had time to contemplate what Pintel meant by that, there were sounds of feet running through water, and voices Soraya didn't recognize. She turned around and looked down towards the beach. A bunch of men had gathered around the ship, and they were speaking with hectic voices.

"What about Jack? I won't leave without him!" one of them said. He was young and had dark hair tied back in a loose pigtail, just like her. It was only after a moment that she realized she had seen him before. He was the one who had spoken about the island back in Tortuga. She figured that these people must have been part of Sparrow's crew. But where was the captain himself?

At that exact moment, distant shouts were heard from the far end of the beach. Somebody came running, the waves splashing around his boots as he bolted towards the ship.

And after him came a hoard of people, all of them waving spears while shouting indistinguishable words. The man from Tortuga immediately changed his mind.

"Time to go!" he said, and quickly started climbing up the ship, joined by the others. Pintel was the first one to get up on deck and he hurried down a couple of stairs that lead down below deck. Ragetti was fast to follow, and Soraya was left alone on the deck as the strangers got aboard one after one. They all ran off in different directions, not wanting to lose any precious time to finally set sail and get away from the godforsaken island. No one paid any attention at all to her, save for an exceptionally short fella who gave her a slightly curious look before disappearing down the same stairs Pintel and Ragetti had taken.

Not sure what to do, Soraya walked up to the reel to see what exactly had happened with the running man. The natives had taken a stop at the shore, and it was just now that Soraya realized that they had already started to sail away from the island.

"Alas my children!"

She was startled by the shout, and turned her head towards the sound. The man that had previously been running was now hanging on the ladder on the side of the ship, and he mockingly saluted his chasers.

"This is the day that you will always remember as the day…"he dramatically continued, before getting completely drenched by a wave of seawater.

"… Captain Jack Sparrow", he finished, sounding disheartened. As he climbed up on deck he was immediately joined by an older man with an impressive set of sideburns.

"Let's put some distance between us and this island and head for open sea!"

"Yes to the first, yes to the second, but only insofar we keep to the shallows".

As the captain was talking, Pintel and Ragetti came walking towards him, and then placed an old, dusty coat over his shoulders. When Sparrow looked at them Pintel saluted him and Ragetti smiled in a way that looked just a little bit forced. The captain didn't look impressed, instead he kept talking to the man with sideburns and they both walked off.

Soraya hesitantly walked up to Pintel and Ragetti.

"What was that all about?" she asked. At first they stared at her like they just now realized that she was still aboard the ship, then Pintel cleared his throat.

"Long story, lad."

"There seems to be a lot of long stories."

"That's because it's the same story", he answered, a slightly annoyed line appearing between his eyes. He glanced at Ragetti and raised his eyebrows, and soon the two pirates left Soraya standing there without any answers.

She found herself wondering if she would be able to befriend them, and the thought surprised her a bit, because just a month ago she would never even have considered it. Even when she had gotten a part in the crew on the smuggler's ship that had brought her back to Port Royal, she hadn't spoken much to the rest of the crew, not even tried to get to know any of them. Now she was coming to terms with the fact that these were the people she would have to spend time with, at least until she could go ashore. Whenever that would be.

The day proceeded, and Soraya walked around without really knowing what to do. Pintel and Ragetti had disappeared somewhere, and she didn't feel like always hanging around them. Instead she sat down in a corner, watching the other crewmen running about. She was uncertain if she was just going to wait until somebody asked what the hell she was doing there, or if she should go and introduce herself to the captain, or at least the first mate.

But what if they didn't want her on the ship? What if they saw that she was actually a woman? What if they decided to kill her right there and then on the spot? She knew enough about pirates to know that most of them were impulsive and violent.

Soraya snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Mr. Sideburns coming down the stairs leading up to the poop deck. Without really thinking at all she stood up, and his eyes flickered to her when he registered the movement. For a moment it looked as if he was going to ignore her completely, but then he cast another glance and got a slightly perplexed look on his face. He looked around, as if Soraya was a lost child and he searched for her parents, then he crossed the deck coming towards her.

"Who are you?" he asked as he stopped and crossed his arms.

"I'm S…" Soraya's voice sounded a bit more high-pitched than she intended it to, and she quickly lowered it. "I'm Simon Johnson, sir."

"And how exactly did ye get 'ere?"

"I came here with Mr. Pintel and Mr. Ragetti, sir."

Everytime she said 'sir', there was a kind of glint in his eyes, as if the word pleased him.

"Those two idiots?" he sounded amused. "And how did they get 'ere?"

"In a rowing boat", she answered. He didn't even flinch, but simply said:

"Do ye know anythin' 'bout ships, lad?"

"Not much at all, sir."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "Well we barely 'ave enough crewmen so this is not the time to be picky", he mumbled, more to himself than to her. He looked up. "Do ye know how to scrub the decks?"

"I… I am a fast learner."

There was a hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth.

"Well then, we better find ye some tools."

He motioned for her to come along and they went below decks. Down there it was dim and smelled funny of wood and tar. Although Soraya's heart was pounding hard in her chest she didn't really feel scared around the man who led her through the ship's interior. He appeared to be a lot more patient than Pintel, and gave a friendlier impression.

"Uhm, sorry sir, but could I just know what your name is?"

He even chuckled a little at the question. "Joshamee Gibbs. But to ye I'm First Mate Gibbs, or Mr. Gibbs, understood?"

"So…" she hesitated a little before continuing: "So I am a crewman then?"

"I suppose ye are", he answered, handing her a mop and a bucket. "For now."

He patted her on the shoulder, and then moved past her to get back up on the main deck. But just before he disappeared, he turned around and said:

"Ye can start with the brig; just take the other set of stairs down."

The evening came. The last sunrays lit up the sails and almost made them look like they were burning.

The blisters in Soraya's hands sure _felt_ like they were burning. She had never really gotten used to hard labor, and although she eventually had been joined in the scrubbing by a dark-skinned pirate that hadn't uttered a single word during the entire working time, she was still exhausted. Somebody shouted something about dinner, and she felt a slight relief. It was just then that she actually realized that she hadn't eaten during the whole day. This hadn't been an uncommon thing when she had been living in Tortuga, but she still felt how her stomach growled for food.

Down in the galley the crew had gathered around a small, wooden table. Everyone was too engaged in different conversations, so they hardly noticed her when she grabbed some food and sat down between Pintel and Mr Gibbs. Pintel hardly glanced at her, but Ragetti looked at her and even smiled a little. Soraya smiled back, but the smile quickly faded when she saw the food. She had eaten a lot of terrible stuff in Tortuga, and this was no different. Salted meat and dry sea biscuits. She carefully took a bite of the biscuits, focusing her eyes on her knees while trying not to chew too loudly.

"How did the scrubbing go?"

She flinched a little. Looking up she saw that Mr Gibbs was smiling at her. "I sent Mr Lejon down to help ye."

"Yes, thank you", she said looking down on her knees again.

"So, mind if I ask, but I just want to know a bit about the men I'm sailing with…", he said, and Soraya realized that he was about to ask something personal. "… Where are ye from?"

"Well…" Soraya felt panic welling up inside of her, but she forced herself to keep her cool. "Well, I used to live in Port Royal."

Mr Gibbs nodded, and took a sip from a flask that had been hanging from his belt. "Then ye've heard 'bout this ship before, I suppose?"

"No sir, I can't say I have."

"Ye should, it almost destroyed the town just 'bout a year ago", he said it like it was something trivial but Soraya raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"R-really?"

Truth be told, it was quite astonishing that she hadn't heard about it. Of course, she had been in Tortuga by then, but rumors traveled fast, and pirates were keen on bragging about their adventures. A raid on Port Royal sounded like something people would have talked about.

"Aye", Gibbs said. "Ye see, the ship was cursed back then…"

This time Soraya couldn't hold back a laugh. "A curse? Really?"

Gibbs shook his head, scoffing. "Ye don't believe in curses Mr. Johnson?"

"No, of course not!"

"Then ye clearly don't know anythin' 'bout the dimwits that brought ye 'ere", he grinned.

Soraya stared at him for a moment, not knowing if he was joking or not. She then turned her gaze towards Pintel and Ragetti, who seemed to be having a quiet argument. When they noticed her looking at them they quickly fell into silence, and Pintel grumbled:

"What're ye lookin' at?"

Soraya felt her cheeks redden, and she turned back to keep talking to Mr Gibbs, finding that he had left his place and was now nowhere to be seen. Looking towards Pintel and Ragetti again, she saw that they had once again forgotten about her, and was now talking about something of their own interest.

So Soraya finished the last piece of meat, and left the galley with that familiar feeling in her gut. The feeling she had felt when walking home through the streets in Tortuga just as the sun started rising in the horizon. The feeling of being lost in a world that didn't belong to her.


	5. VI

_**IV.  
**_And so the moon and the stars lit up the night sky, and the crewmen one by one went down to the gun deck, to get to sleep.

Soraya had never slept in a hammock before. The journey to Port Royal from Tortuga had only taken about a day, so (luckily, she thought) she had never had the opportunity. But now when she did, she found that it was practically impossible to sleep. Although she felt absolutely exhausted, she had a hard time ignoring the constant creaking and rocking of the ship, and as the crewmen fell asleep, the majority of them started to snore, which didn't make the situation any better. On top of that it was difficult finding a good position to sleep in. At first she tried lying on her side, but after a while her shoulder started to hurt. Maybe she could just turn around and lie on her back instead? It sounded like a nice enough plan.

The next thing Soraya knew, she was lying sprawled on the floor, now with her back aching too.

"Ow…" she groaned, sitting up.

"What the hell is goin' on?" a sleepy voice said from somewhere above.

Looking up, Soraya saw Ragetti peering down at her from his hammock.

"I fell out…"

"Yer not supposed to move, ye know?"

"I know, I just… I can't sleep."

"No wonder if yer lying on the floor like that."

Although it was too dark to distinguish his features, Soraya could practically hear that he was grinning. She glared at him.

"Shut up…"

"Sorry", he said, not seeming very sorry at all. Then his face disappeared, as he leaned back in his hammock.

"If I were ye", she heard him say. "I'd try sleepin' on me back."

Soraya tried to think of a comment that was snarky but still not enough to make him offended, but just as she opened her mouth to say it, she heard him snore loudly.

"How is that even possible?" she muttered, climbing back into her own hammock.

The next day, she was put on scrubbing duty again, the gun deck this time. And now there was no quiet man called Lejon coming to help her, instead Pintel and Ragetti showed up. Pintel sighed loudly when he saw that they were going to be working together. Since they had gotten off that island he had been acting like her mere presence was bothering him. First during the dinner the previous night, and it had been the same when they ate breakfast. Every time she had uttered a word to him, she had either gotten an irritated glare or a few grumbly words as an answer. It had actually started to annoy her, especially since she couldn't recall doing anything wrong. All she had done was helping them, so where was the problem?

Maybe it was her confirmed position as a crewmember that gave her the courage, or maybe she was just too annoyed to keep quiet, but when she heard him sigh, she blurted:

"Why are you so rude to me? I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Not yet", he answered, pressing the mop just a bit harder against the wooden planks.

"So you think I will do something wrong?" she straightened her back and crossed her arms.

"Probably, this is yer first time on a ship, isn't it?"

"Yes but I have to learn, right?"

"Well I'm not gonna be the one learning ye, that's for sure."

Soraya didn't answer. Instead she took a firmer grip of the mop and sloshed it down the bucket so water squirted everywhere. She heard Pintel grunt but she ignored him. It was starting to make sense now, why he seemed so angry with her. He just didn't want her to get too attached. He didn't want to be the one teaching her how to be a pirate. He didn't want to be responsible for her, just because he and Ragetti happened to be the ones that brought her to the ship.

They kept working in silence, and the longer the silence went on, the more uncomfortable it got. Soraya tried to think of something to say; something that wouldn't annoy Pintel, maybe even something that would impress him. Before she had the time to figure something out, another voice was heard:

"What exactly were ye doin' under the docks?"

Soraya looked up, surprised to find that the one speaking was Ragetti. Pintel frowned at him, but Ragetti's eye was focused on Soraya. He appeared to be genuinely curious about what her answer would be, but Soraya was panicking on the inside. She had never been a particularly good liar, and the whole truth wouldn't make sense if she was going to pass as a man.

"I just didn't have anywhere to sleep that's all…" she said, gazing down at her feet. Her shoes were starting to get worn, the buckle on them was starting to rust and the leather was cracked.

"The thing is…" said Pintel. "Ye don't sound like someone who don't have nowhere to sleep."

She was getting the feeling that this was something they had discussed. And it was true; her accent didn't make her sound like someone who had lived in the gutter all her life. People in Tortuga had noticed it too, and they had always seemed to judge her for it.

"I was born in the upper class, is that what you wanted to know?"  
Her voice sounded a lot more irritated than she had intended it to.

"So how did ye end up 'ere?" Ragetti asked.

She hadn't expected them to be this curious. On the merchant ship to Port Royal the crewmen had hardly spoken to her at all. Then again, they had been nearer 50 men; here on the _Black Pearl_ they were only about a dozen (which was a considerably small crew now when she thought about it).

"Well life is not always a bed of roses, is it?" she sharply said. The two pirates kept looking at her, clearly expecting a further explanation. Soraya sighed.

"Let's just say I did something my parents weren't very happy with and they threw me out", she finally answered. Pintel suddenly started grinning mockingly.

"A bit too many visits to the docks, eh?"

At first Soraya just stared at him with a blank face, but when it dawned on her, she felt her cheeks burning hot. "Yes, you could say that", she murmured, turning all her concentration towards the mop. She heard Ragetti draw in his breath, as if he was about to say something… Then, as if sent from above, someone came hurrying down the stairs. Soraya looked up at her savior and saw that it was the quiet Lejon.

"The captain wants all hands on deck", he said, with a hint of a French accent. Soraya was quick to follow his orders, and she couldn't have felt more grateful for his sudden appearance.

She would just have to hope that they wouldn't want to continue the conversation later.

They had cast anchor just outside an island that didn't appear to have any form of civilization on it. All that could be seen were misty hills and never-ending woods. And splitting these woods in two was a river, leading into the murky jungle. Jumping ship here looked to be a bad idea.

On the deck of the _Black Pearl_, the crew had gathered around Jack Sparrow. The captain had placed himself on the stairs leading up to the poop deck and his kohl-lined eyes swept over the crew once before he started talking. Soraya thought that his gaze was fixed just a little longer on her, but it might just have been her imagination.

"So", Sparrow said, clapping his hands together. "You're all probably wondering what exactly we are doing here outside this dodgy-looking island."

The crew murmured in agreement.

"Well, let's just say I have business to attend", he said, grinning. "And since we are…" His eyes swept over all of them once again, estimating their numbers. "… Very few, I'm gonna need you all to man the boats."

"What about the _Pearl_?" someone asked. It was the incredibly short man, who sat on the gunwale dangling his feet.

"No need to worry", Sparrow said, stepping down on the main deck. Without saying anything else he headed directly towards the lifeboats. Then he turned around, glaring at them.

"What are you waiting for? We haven't got all day!"

Soon they were all sitting in the two boats, rowing towards the river. Soraya ended up in the same boat as the captain himself, Lejon, an old man with a parrot sitting on his shoulder, and a cage with the monkey in the tiny vest that she had seen earlier. When she climbed into the boat, she had noticed Sparrow looking at her like he was trying to remember if he had seen her before. He didn't question her being there, so she didn't think much of it.

At first the sun was shining mercilessly on them, and Soraya felt her cotton shirt sticking to her sweaty skin, and she did her very best to not let it stick _too_ much. But she didn't have to worry about it for long; soon the trees stretched their branches over the river and the sun got lost behind them. The air grew damper and although it was still warm, there was a slight chill in the air.

In the other boat, Gibbs was talking with a hushed voice to the young man from Tortuga, but in Soraya's boat everyone was silent. Once she got eye contact with Lejon, and she thought about trying to start a conversation, but before she could he looked away.

The quiet allowed her thoughts to finally catch up with her. Until now she had been busy with thinking about the life on the ship and what was required of her as a crewmember. She had been making this mask for herself, and in the process she had almost forgotten her old self for a moment. But now the memories came back, and she was once again standing in the entrance hall, looking into her mother's cold eyes.

Was it really possible that she would never ever come back? Was there no scenario where her family would accept her again? What if she found a nice man to marry and ended up living in a nice enough estate with a family of her own, would they still not forgive her?

Then again, that would be an almost impossible task. She was part of the crew on a pirate ship, and was there really any coming back from that?

But what if there was? She was not bound to stay there forever. Gibbs had said that she was just a crewman "for now", and she had signed no contract of any sort. If she stepped ashore and managed to make an honest life for herself, maybe she would be able to come back to her old life in one way or another?

As she pondered all possible ways of leaving Simon Johnson behind and getting back to the woman called Soraya Johnson that had once been her, the jungle grew darker around them. Sometimes Soraya was torn away from her trains of thought when she thought she saw movement amongst the trees on the riverbank. Soon they began to pass murky shacks, where dark figures watched them from windows and doorways.

Soraya looked at Captain Sparrow, who was standing in the bow of the boat, sometimes nodding solemnly towards the quiet natives of the jungle. He had never told the crew where they were going, but they all appeared to trust his good judgment. Soraya wondered what made them respect him so much. In Tortuga there had always been stories floating around about him, but they were mostly about how he could bed any woman he wanted, or how he got out of a sticky situation through luck and wit, or just about what he did that particular night when he was drunk in that place somewhere. To her, he had seemed like someone who was respected, but not for being a man of great judgment or a great captain, but more for being some kind of an amusing hero that always had a great story to tell.

But now when he was actually standing right in front of her, alive and breathing, she was beginning to wonder if he was actually a little bit of both.


End file.
